Contents

Official solicitation

The BLUE BLUR IS BACK from the events of "WORLDS UNITE" and ready to save the world! In "Cold Hearted," Sonic embarks on a quest through the arctic to find and recover the all-important Gaia Keys! Collecting them all is essential for fixing the shattered world. It's a pretty chill mission until Egg Boss Tundra steps in to put the freeze on Sonic's plans! Meanwhile, Dr. Eggman is "Back in Business" as he braves the unknown to find his most treasured killing machine Metal Sonic! Featuring cover art by newcomer Adam Bryce Thomas plus a "HERO" variant with art provided by SEGA!

Featured stories

Cold Hearted

In Cool Edge Zone, Chip cheers on Sonic and Rotor, who are fighting against the Artika Egg Army. Sonic uses several ice puns, much to Rotor's annoyance, then Sonic tells he's cold and ran out of puns and decides to surrender, much to Rotor and the army's surprise. Rotor decides to stick to the plan and surrender. The Artika army is confused, then takes the two to their Egg Boss while Chip flies off.

In their Egg Army Base, Rotor comments that the Sky Patrol has better tech than the base, to which Egg Boss Tundra tells him to show respect to them. After a brief introduction, Tundra tells the latter that they don't need to introduce themselves, especially to Rotor, who recognises him as his father. Rotor is shocked at the fact that his father would betray his village. Tundra explains that they were conquered by Eggman and that he recognised as the only one strong enough to enforce his will and that he allowed this because with Eggman proving he was stronger gives him the right to rule.

While ripping off Rotor's belt, Tundra also comments that he sees that Rotor was still weak for relying on his gadgets only. Sonic threatens to beat Tundra up but they are sent to cells by Tundra, saying they will receive no mercy and that he would eventually send them over to Eggman.

Sonic and Rotor are then thrown into a cell with Jari-Thure and Sarianna, who are Gaia Key protectors. They were apparently captured by the Egg Army when Sarianna went out at night. The couple argue whether this was the safest decision or not while Sonic goes to comfort Rotor saying that he is more of a man than his father by not bowing down to Eggman.

Sarianna notices Sonic's behaviour as if getting captured was his plan. Sonic agrees to this because they only wanted to find the couple before heading out. Chip comes in carrying treats from the Egg Army's fridge and lets everyone out. Jari-Thure notes it would be difficult to run on the ice. Sonic replies that Rotor can run on ice with ease while he could run on ice in his werehog form since he has cleats. Chip leads the way while unlocking the doors so they would not lose momentum.

The gang fight their way through to the hangar where they take off in a reindeer-themed convertible. They get back to Jari-Thure's village where Sonic is given the Gaia Keys they came for. Sonic asks Rotor if he is ready to head back to the Sky Patrol, to which Rotor notes it as his home away from home. The story ends with Tundra looking stern over the whole situation while the Egg soldiers try to clean up the mess made.

Back in Business

Aboard the Death Egg, Doctor Eggman is marveling over his plans to build Eggman Land over the shattered planet. Orbot questions him about the rides, to which Eggman responds that they will be deadly. He notes that the Dark Gaia energy will be funneled to the Death Egg, making it more stronger. However, Orbot argues that the Death Egg would have more power if they did not lose the Blue Chaos Emerald from earlier. Eggman angrily states that the trap was flawless (aside from the Freedom Fighters escaping) and tells Orbot to shut up.

Eggman does admit that Sonic and his team have more emeralds than him, but also states that he managed to find the Gaia Manuscripts and decipher them, having his Egg Army secure some of the Gaia Temples, meaning he controls the state of the world. Orbot then questions Eggman whether he found a way to open the doors to the deeper parts of the temple, without destroying the temple. After saying no, Eggman asks Orbot whether he was programmed for giving this much sass. Cubot then asks if Eggman will attack the strange new planet he discovered but Eggman wanted to stay focused on conquering the current planet first. He also adds that he had such an item he was going to use on the planet but could not remember what it was due to the reset. Orbot asks if Eggman would still want to research on Genesis Portals but he tries to consider it since he lost Metal Sonic due to one. Orbot then mentions that they had found him.

Before Eggman sets out to find him, Orbot warns that the machine he uses to make such Genesis Portals is experimental at best and suggests to send a badnik instead. Eggman does not listen and lets Orbot know it has been a while since he got his hands dirty. Orbot face-palms silently after this statement.

Eggman dives into the Genesis Portal which leads him to the Distant Abyss Zone. He tries to communicate with Metal but fails and is attacked by a large monster. Metal Sonic is able to use the last 1% of his power to defend Eggman but soon automatically deactivates. Eggman carries him back to his base, yelling at Orbot and Cubot to close the Genesis Portal immediately. Thereafter, he orders them to put Metal Sonic in a recharge station. Unbeknownst to him, Walter and Wendy Naugus invade his land.

Quotes

Orbot: You work best in a competitive environment, sir. And my laziness is to give you a smug sense of superiority in your industriousness.

Trivia

With the release of this issue, Sonic the Hedgehog has become the longest-running franchise-based comic series, surpassing Marvel's Conan the Barbarian (which ran for 275 issues in total).

The holographic machine used by Dr. Eggman has the shape of a Dreamcast.

In the Off Panel, Sonic ends his goodbye to all the Worlds Unite character by saying "See you guys at the next crossover!" to which an unknown character responds with "No you won't." This could be a nod to the fact that there will no longer be any crossovers with the Mega Man comic series or the Sonic Boom comic series.